Agenda Report
Fullerton City Council
MEETING DATE: FEBRUARY 3, 2026
TO: CITY COUNCIL / SUCCESSOR AGENCY
SUBMITTED BY: SUNAYANA THOMAS, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PREPARED BY: DAVID LOPEZ, SENIOR PLANNER
SUBJECT: FULLERTON MUNICIPAL CODE AMENDMENT TO CHANGE ZONING CLASSIFICATION FROM COMMERCIAL MANUFACTURING, EMERGENCY SHELTER OVERLAY (C-M-ES) TO MANUFACTURING PARK, 100,000 SQUARE FOOT MINIMUM LOT SIZE, EMERGENCY SHELTER OVERLAY (M-P-100ES) AND MITIGATED NEGATIVE DECLARATION FOR NEW WAREHOUSE BUILDING LOCATED AT 2461 TO 2495 EAST ORANGETHORPE AVENUE
SUMMARY
The applicant requests a Zoning Amendment to change the zoning classification along a portion of Orangethorpe Avenue street frontage and Mitigated Negative Declaration adoption to identify potential environmental impact associated with the construction and operation of a new 110,232-square-foot warehouse building.
PROPOSED MOTION
Introduce Ordinance XXXX for first reading by title only and waive further reading of the ordinance.
ORDINANCE NO. XXXX – AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FULLERTON, CALIFORNIA, APPROVING AN AMENDMENT TO CHANGE THE ZONE CLASSIFICATION FOR THE SOUTHERLY PORTION OF THE PARCEL FROM COMMERCIAL MANUFACTURING, EMERGENCY SHELTER OVERLAY (C-M-ES) TO MANUFACTURING PARK, 100,000 SQUARE FOOT MINIMUM LOT SIZE, EMERGENCY SHELTER OVERLAY (M-P-100ES) TO MATCH THE NORTHERLY PORTION OF THE PARCEL LOCATED AT 2461-2495 EAST ORANGETHORPE AVENUE Adopt Resolution No 2026-XXX.
RESOLUTION NO. 2026-XXX - A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FULLERTON, CALIFORNIA, ADOPTING A MITIGATED NEGATIVE DECLARATION INCLUDING MITIGATION MEASURES AND MITIGATION MONITORING AND REPORTING PROGRAM FOR A NEW INDUSTRIAL WAREHOUSE BUILDING LOCATED AT 2461 TO 2495 EAST ORANGETHORPE AVENUE
ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS
Approve the Proposed Motion
Other options brought by City Council.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the Proposed Motion.
CITY MANAGER REMARKS
None.
PRIORITY POLICY STATEMENT
Not applicable.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact associated with this report.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
The project site is located between State College Boulevard and Placentia Avenue along the north side of Orangethorpe Avenue. The subject 4.79-acre parcel is improved with five multi-tenant buildings totaling approximately 85,700 square feet, including surface parking and landscaping improvements, identified as the Cedarwoods Business Park. The project scope involves demolishing existing buildings and site improvements to construct a new 110,232-square-foot concrete tilt-up warehouse building with 10,000 square feet of office area, divided between the ground level and mezzanine and split evenly between two separate areas within the warehouse.
Staff is unaware of any specific end user. The building size and design would provide for industrial uses including storage and warehousing with 15 loading dock doors located along the westerly side of the building. The project includes a trash enclosure and pump house along the westerly property line. An eight-foot-high wrought iron fence with gates along the main drive aisles would secure the project. The project would provide 91 onsite parking spaces.
Vehicles and pedestrians would access the site along Orangethorpe Avenue and Cypress Wat with two vehicle access points and a pedestrian walkway along Orangethorpe Avenue. The project would provide a main 40-foot-wide near the southwest corner, a 26-foot-wide driveway near the southeast corner along Orangethorpe Avenue and a 64-foot-wide driveway at the Cypress Way cul-de-sac. Staff anticipates truck access is to primarily occur from the westernmost driveway along Orangethorpe Avenue. The proposed project would include a 26-foot-wide fire lane around all sides of the building for emergency access.
Zoning Amendment
The requested Zoning Amendment would change or rezone the C-M-ES (Commercial Manufacturing, with an Emergency Shelter Overlay) zoning classification located along the parcel’s Orangethorpe Avenue street frontage to M-P-100ES (Manufacturing Park, 100,000 square feet minimum lot size, Emergency Shelter Overlay) zone as it will accommodate the proposed industrial warehouse development. The zone change / amendment would zone the entire parcel as M-P-100ES.
The Commercial Manufacturing zone includes varying development standards not consistent with the parcel’s main industrial zoning designation. The project approved by the Planning Commission (ZON-2025-0013) complies with all Manufacturing Park development standards. The Emergency Shelter Overlay will remain and therefore not affect the overlay intent to allow emergency shelters and multi-service centers as a permitted use if requested by the property owner in the future. The parcel land use Industrial designation would remain unchanged. The proposed Zoning Amendment would conform with the existing General Plan land use designation, Industrial.
Environmental Review
The City, as Lead Agency, contracted the environmental consulting firm Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. to help prepare an Initial Study / Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND) to identify potential environmental impacts associated with project construction and operation in conformance with California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and CEQA Guidelines provisions.
Staff made the IS / MND available for public review and comment pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15105. The 20-day public review period began November 7, 2025 and ended November 26, 2025. Staff made copies of the environmental document available for public review at the Fullerton Library, Fullerton City Hall and on the City website and posted all documents online on November 6, 2025 at the State Clearinghouse within the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (SCH No. 2025110235).
Staff received comments from Lozeau Drury LLP on behalf of Supporters Alliance for Environmental Responsibility and from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) District 12 and provided responses to the comments as an attachment to the Planning Commission Staff Report.
The IS / MND analysis concluded the project would have Less than Significant Impacts associated with project construction and operation. Further, it found Less than Significant Impacts or No Impacts for all environmental factors except Cultural Resources, Geology and Soils, Noise and Tribal Cultural Resources. Staff identified mitigation measures which reduce the impacts to Less than Significant with Mitigation Incorporated.
Planning Commission
The Planning Commission held a public hearing on December 10, 2025 to consider the Cedarwoods Fullerton Project (PRJ2025-00005) which included:
Zoning Amendment (LRP-2025-0011) to change the zoning classification along the front of the parcel from C-M-ES to M-P-100ES to match the rear of the parcel.
Major Site Plan (ZON-2025-0013) to demolish an existing 85,700 square foot business park to construct a new 110,232-square-foot warehouse facility with associated onsite improvements.
Mitigated Negative Declaration.
The Commission received the following Public Comment:
The applicant spoke in favor of the request, conditions of approval, plans for construction and answered Commissioner questions.
A resident spoke about construction activity concerns, warehouse uses and requested mixed-use project built at that site instead. (Staff note: The property does not have the HIOZ overlay zone, therefore current zooming would not permit residential development.) Elijah Manassero provided written comments and recommended denial or continuation based on roadway impacts analysis.
Kyla Staley, attorney from Lozeau Drury on behalf of SAFER, provided written comments recommending project denial due to anticipated significant air quality impacts and requested that the project prepare an Environmental Impact Report (EIR).
Staff provided a response letter to the Planning Commission with responses to the written comments provided by Manassero and SAFER. The Planning Commission unanimously approved the Major Site Plan application and recommended City Council approve the Zoning Amendment and the Mitigated Negative Declaration with a motion that the City Council consider adopting the Goodman project mitigation measures regarding air quality or require an EIR as an alternative.
City Council approved the Goodman Logistics Center Fullerton project on November 2, 2020 which included an EIR, Zoning Amendment, Tentative Parcel Map, Major Site Plan, Variance and Development Agreement. The Goodman project encompasses approximately 65.4 acres of land area and developed an industrial logistics center consisting of four buildings with up to 1,609,383 square feet of floor space. The adopted Goodman EIR determined that the project would result in less than significant impacts for certain environmental issues by implementing project level and project specific mitigation measures.
Staff provided a memorandum prepared by Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. dated January 20, 2026 (Response Memo) to clarify the CEQA cumulative air quality methodology utilized in the Cedarwoods Fullerton Project Mitigated Negative Declaration and provide an analysis and response to the comments by SAFER including details related to the differences between an IS / MND and an EIR. The Response Memo explained the IS / MND conservatively analyzed the Project’s potential air quality impacts without accounting for existing uses on the project site (i.e., emissions from existing uses were not netted out from the project emissions) and that such analysis resulted in project emissions below all applicable thresholds established by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD).
The Response Memo provided additional analysis to show that when emissions from existing uses on the site were considered, the project reduced all criteria pollutants except for a small net increase in nitrogen oxides (NOX, which would remain far below the applicable SCAQMD threshold. The project requires no mitigation related to air quality and does not trigger the requirement to prepare an EIR because site emissions would largely be reduced.
CEQA requires preparing an EIR whenever substantial evidence supports a fair argument that a project may result in significant environmental impacts that cannot be avoided or reduced to less than significant with incorporation of mitigation measures. The data contained within the Cedarwoods Fullerton Project IS / MND determined that the project would not result in a cumulatively considerable increase in criteria pollutant emissions and would not contribute to or worsen existing nonattainment conditions and would remain consistent with applicable state and federal ambient air quality standards. Accordingly, the project would not require any mitigation measures to reduce any potentially significant impacts related to air quality emissions. Therefore, the Project IS / MND is appropriate and does not require a full EIR.
Attachments:
Attachment 1 – PowerPoint Presentation
Attachment 2 – Draft Ordinance No. XXXX – Zoning Amendment Attachment 3 – Draft Resolution No. 2026-XX – Mitigated Negative Declaration Attachment 4 – Planning Commission Staff Report dated December 10, 2025 Attachment 5 – Draft Planning Commission Minutes dated December 10, 2025 Attachment 6 – Planning Commission Resolution No. PC-2025-19 Attachment 7 – Planning Commission Resolution No. PC-2025-20 Attachment 8 – Draft Planning Commission Resolution No. PC-2025-21 Attachment 9 – Project Plans
Attachment 10 – Air Quality Memorandum dated January 20, 2026 Attachment 11 – City Council Resolution No. 2020-98
cc: Interim City Manager Eddie Manfro
Cedarwoods Fullerton Project at 2461 to 2495 East Orangethorpe Avenue February 3, 2026 - Page PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT 2